Posting for director

Huntsville Forester

PARRY SOUND – Five months after the sudden retirement of its director of education, the Near North District School Board has posted the position.September 16 deadline
The posting calls for qualified candidates to apply before Friday, Sept. 16, to fill a role where, “The nine trustees that comprise the Board and the Director will work in partnership to provide both leadership and a vision that encompasses 34 elementary schools and seven secondary schools, with a population of approximately 10,500 students.”
Not included in the posting are the eight First Nations communities served by the Near North Board. Last week, Near North trustee Linda Williams, spoke out publicly and said, in her opinion, omitting the mention of the First Nations students was prejudiced and racist.
Included in the posting is a lengthy paragraph describing the geography of the region along with a list of partnerships held by the board, including Nipissing University and Canadore College.
Former Nipissing Board of Education superintendent Paul Moffat, who retired in 1997, has filled the role of the director of education on a temporary basis. His contract is expected to expire at the end of August.
In June, board chair Kathy Hewitt, the former board chair of the Nipissing Board that was amalgamated into the Near North Board in 1997, said that she had sought out Moffat to replace retiring Heli Vail on an interim basis.
The move was criticized by some trustees who went as far as calling him a “dinosaur,” because he hasn’t been an active school administrator since retiring 13 years ago.